David Cameron has stepped down as a patron of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in a move pro-Palestinian campaigners claim is a result of pressure but which Downing Street insists is part of a general review of the prime minister's charity connections.

The JNF was only one of a number of charities from which Cameron stepped down, said Downing St. His predecessors Gordon Brown and Tony Blair continued to be JNF patrons throughout their tenure.

The JNF was originally set up to buy land in Palestine to establish Jewish settlements before the creation of the state of Israel. Now it is a global charity which describes itself as the "caretakers of the land and people of Israel", specialising in planting forests. Critics say it expropriated land belonging to Palestinians and has obliterated pre-1948 Arab villages by planting forests and parks. The JNF is involved in the demolition of Bedouin villages in the Negev desert as part of an afforestation plan.

Sofiah Macleod of the UK-based Stop the JNF Campaign said the organisation's lobbying had led Cameron to withdraw. "There has been a change in public opinion and awareness about Israel's behaviour and there was specific pressure on [Cameron] to step down from the JNF," she said. "We believe he has stepped down as a result of this political pressure. Given the establishment support that the JNF has received, it's not a decision he will have taken lightly."

The Stop the JNF Campaign wrote an open letter to the prime minister this month, claiming the JNF had committed war crimes against the Palestinian people and urging his resignation as patron.

An early day motion tabled in the Commons in March regretted Cameron was a JNF patron and said revoking its charitable status should be considered. However, Downing St insisted Cameron's resignation was part of a wider review.

"Following the formation of the coalition government, a review was undertaken of all the organisations and charities the prime minister was associated with. As a result of this review, the prime minister stepped down from a number of charities – this included the JNF," it said in a statement.

Traditionally, the leaders of the three main political parties have become patrons of the JNF. However, Cameron's resignation means that none of the current three leaders are JNF patrons.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign welcomed the decision. "It reflects the fact it is now impossible for any serious party leader to lend public support to racism," campaign director, Sarah Colborne, said in a statement.

"The JNF plays a critical role in facilitating the continued dispossession and suffering of Palestinians."

The JNF did not respond to a request for comment. In a letter to the Guardian last October, Samuel Hayek, JNF UK chairman, said: "To accuse the JNF of being "actively complicit in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians' represents a distortion of the truth on the grandest of scales.

"Our environmental and humanitarian work is not based on any political or religious affiliation, but rather on supporting Israel and its population – whatever their background. This was the case before the modern state of Israel was created and will continue to be the case long into the future."